


First Blood

by that_one_kid



Series: Lack of Adult Supervision (Camp Counselor AU) [10]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Aragorn is the medic, Bad Decisions, Boromir is just here for the gossip, Camp Counselor AU, Drama, Gen, Wolves, so much drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 02:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21348904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_one_kid/pseuds/that_one_kid
Summary: The Four Hunters are tested in combat for the first time. Old family enmities are brought to light.
Series: Lack of Adult Supervision (Camp Counselor AU) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1463752
Kudos: 16





	First Blood

**Author's Note:**

> See end note for trigger warnings.

“Wait,” Gimli said in a hushed tone, staring past them and into the dark. Legolas frowned, peering in the direction he was looking. 

“I don’t see anything,” he whispered. Gimli rolled his eyes. 

“Of course not. You don’t spend most of each day in dark caves.” Legolas opened his mouth to retort but Aragorn dug an elbow into his ribs and he shut it again with a snap. 

“I hear something coming this way,” Aragorn whispered. 

“Wolves,” Gimli said flatly, yanking his hatchets out of his belt. Aragorn swept his flashlight in an arc, and yellow eyes gleamed from the bushes around them. Aragorn clicked his bear spray can open, and Boromir drew his sword. 

“Don’t engage yet!” Aragorn said loudly. “Talk loud, and appear big. Let’s link arms.” 

“All right!” Boromir shouted back, sheathing his sword and drawing himself up to his full height. He threaded his arm around Aragorn’s and continued shouting as Legolas reluctantly reached for Gimli’s arm. 

“Go away, wolves! We will chop you up and make wolf stew!” 

Once he saw Legolas’s arm, Gimli yanked his own arm away - still holding his hatchets. 

“Get out of town and don’t come back!” Aragorn yelled, bending slowly to pick up a heavy stone. He glanced across the clearing at Legolas and Gimli. “Gimli, what the hell are you doing?!” 

“I don’t need to play ring-around-the-rosie!” Gimli shouted back, eying the nearest wolf. “I can take ‘em!” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Legolas said, hesitating between staying near the clearly-insane spelunker and heading towards the other two. 

“Ridiculous!” Gimli shouted. “I’m ridiculous?! Are you even going to apologize for what your family did to mine?!” 

“Is now _ really _ the time for this?!” Aragorn shouted at them, handing another rock to Boromir. “Throw these if the alpha starts snarling! Legolas, Gimli, _ link arms _!!” 

“If we’re speaking of families, you’ve clearly inherited the Oakenshield stubbornness,” Legolas hissed, reaching for his bow. 

“No! God_ damn _ it, stop this right now!” Aragorn yelled. 

“Don’t get yourselves killed trying to prove a point!” Boromir yelled. There was a blood-curdling snarl from the bushes, but Legolas was suddenly too irritated to feel the fear stealing over the faces of the other two. His face felt hot in the cool night air.

“Throw the rocks, now!” Aragorn shouted, and Legolas drew, sighted, and shot. The alpha keeled over, falling out of the bushes with an arrow sticking out of his left eye. 

“Think you’re special?” Gimli snarled, and charged. Distantly, Legolas heard Aragorn yelling something as he fired again, knocking down a wolf as it charged the group. 

Gimli ranged around the clearing, wielding axes with deadly accuracy, even though the wolves stood almost to his shoulders. Then Legolas lost sight of him, and he was just shooting.

There was a growl behind him, and he whipped around, yanking out his hunting knife. Too slow, he knew, and the wolf was lunging even before the knife had cleared his belt. Then it jerked to a stop, staggered, and fell to the ground. A hatchet was buried in its skull, and Gimli was behind it, covered in blood. He glanced at Legolas, and then ran off. 

Legolas glanced frantically around, but no more wolves presented themselves. Four wolves lay dead on the ground, and the rest were gone, presumably fleeing back into the forest. 

“Is everyone all right?” Aragorn asked. Dark blood dripped from his knife and Boromir’s sword, and Boromir was nursing a nasty-looking cut on his arm. 

“I’m fine,” Legolas answered quietly, guilt starting to settle in his stomach. 

“Thanks to me,” Gimli grumbled, and Legolas wrestled with his instinct to toss the obnoxious counselor into the nearby river. 

“Yes,” he managed through gritted teeth. “Thank you.” 

“Gimli, Boromir, are you hurt?” Aragorn asked again. Gimli glanced over himself, apparently deciding none of the blood was his.

“Fine, lad. That cut looks pretty bad, Boromir.” But Boromir shook his head, rinsing the cut in the river and checking it over. 

“I think it’s not too bad. It just looked messier with the blood on it,” he said. Aragorn pulled a first-aid kit from his backpack and quickly bandaged the cut up. 

“I didn’t expect thanks from you,” Gimli said quietly as Legolas retrieved his arrows. He was cleaning the edges of his axe with some moss. Legolas flushed again, and kept his temper through a genuine force of will. 

“You were right,” he admitted, shame coloring his tone. “What my family did to yours was wrong. And you still saved me, putting yourself in danger. I-” he broke off, the warmth of his anger fading quickly and leaving him feeling cold and shaky. “I know it doesn’t help, but we tried to stop him.” Gimli put a hand on his elbow. 

“I’m sorry, too. You are not your father, and not responsible for the choices he made. It’s just. Hard. For me to remember that sometimes.” Then he stiffened, and Legolas reached for an arrow automatically. 

“Finished bonding over almost getting us killed?” Aragorn said from behind him, his tone harsh and cold. Gimli hung his head, and Legolas jumped in. 

“It wasn’t his fault, Aragorn,” he said. “Ninya cáma,” Boromir, still eying the woods suspiciously, raised an eyebrow. 

“Which means?” 

“It is my responsibility,” Legolas translated. He frowned. “I should have addressed our history sooner.” 

“Oh, but then you wouldn’t have accidentally started Gossip Night!” Boromir protested, and then blushed when Gimli shot him a look that would have cut stone. “I mean, Toss… up… night?” 

“Nice save.” Aragorn said, nudging at one of the fallen wolves with his toe. “Well, this happened. Let’s never mention this to any of the camp directors, okay?” 

“Agreed!” Gimli said quickly, and Legolas nodded along. Boromir threw his head back and laughed, which Legolas didn’t find particularly reassuring. 

“Let’s go find those kids,” Aragorn said, and their earlier tension returned.

“Hopefully the remaining wolves will eat the serial killer,” Gimli whispered from behind him, and Legolas felt a little of his fear ebb away. He smiled to himself and followed Aragorn into the dark.

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings: Teenagers in dangerous situations, cruelty to animals, children in danger, animal attack


End file.
